THE brother of a woman who disappeared from her Thames Ditton home nearly 10 years ago has spoken of the moment her family confronted the man accused of her murder.

Martin Hale, of Embercourt Road, is accused of killing his wife Mauren Hale on June 22, 1999.

On Wednesday, the third day of a trial at Kingston Crown Court, Mrs Hale’s brother Michael Wetherley spoke about a meeting that took place in 2000 between the police, Hale and family members to discuss her disappearance.

Mr Wetherley, who was at the meeting with two of his sisters, said: "After the police left the room we were able to confront Martin fairly directly with the evidence we had been given and I asked Martin a number of questions about the case. He never gave any direct answers.

"He was ambiguous but he was definitely more emotional than when the police were present."

When Hale was asked directly by the family whether he was involved in the disappearance of his wife, Mr Wetherley said he became "emotional for the very very first time" and said: "I love her to bits."

The prosecution alleges that Hale killed his wife during a late night row and drew up a list of ways to dispose of her body. A note discovered in his briefcase read "1. At Sea 2. By fire 3. By acid 4. Landsite".

Mr Wetherly told the court what had happened when he asked Hale about the note. "He responded that people do strange things under pressure," he said.

"At around this point the police came back into the room and I felt at that point it was very unfortunate that they did as I believe Martin was going to open up even more to us."

Under cross-examination, Mr Wetherly admitted that he had made no statement to the police about Hale’s responses to the family’s questions.